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Archives of the Living
Last Updated: 2026-02-05 16:38:59
Abstract
This course intends to use different techniques of recording and research to capture a special and important time in the history of Zurich between the late 1970s and the early1980s. The documents that each student produces will be test of how to communicate and archiving specific topics of this time.
Objective
-The students will engage with existing archives, but will ask new questions in order to extend the received meanings of the material -the students will use photographic and video recordings to represent the sites that we are studying -the students will use social scientific interview techniques This material will be assembled into small documents that communicate specific topics from the main theme
Content
Zurich between the late 1970s and the early1980s was a city where urban activism, punk and a nascent contemporary art scene came together in an explosive way. Inspired by other scenes, in say London and New York, what was special in Zurich was how intermingled the members of the different scenes were and how influential they would become for the future shape of the city. This must have something to do with the mall scale of the city and how intertwined its society is. Independent of official policies and large capital investments, it was the ideas and the participants of these times that has given shape, for better and for worse, to contemporary Zurich. This course will begin to engage with the stories, the people, and the artefacts of that time. Drawing on the holdings of existing social archives in the city, but also engaging through photography and writing, we will begin to construct an archive of the living for Zurich.
General Information
- Language
- English
- Levels
- BSC
- Frequency
- Semesterly recurring
Examination
- Type
- ungraded semester performance
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| seminar |
Archives of the Living
No course on 21.3.2024 (seminar week) and during the last two weeks before end of semester.
|
|
4 h weekly |